"...an outlet for the voices of the people of Wisconsin, and a place for open, honest, fact-based debate."

Monday, April 2, 2012

No Special Interests: A Grassroots Viral Movement to Rid Politics of Special Interest Money

That may be a bit grandiose, but that's the goal of No Special Interests.com, the website that I created over the weekend. One of the biggest problems in politics today is the influence of various special interests from corporations to unions and everything in between. It's only gotten worse with the Citizens United ruling, and both sides of the aisle agree. Yet, nearly every politician says that they don't cater to special interests. So, the only way we can rid our politics of special interest influence is to find and elect candidates who truly aren't supported by special interests. No Special Interests.com was created to assist Wisconsinites with that effort and to hopefully start a nonpartisan grassroots movement to rid politics of special interest money.

Candidates who refuse money from special interests really need the support of Wisconsinites to win, and they need to win for us to take Wisconsin back for the people. They're already at a disadvantage by refusing support from special interests. They get less press and less advertising. Yet, they're the type of candidates we should support with the confidence to stand on their own for the people of Wisconsin. We must make an effort to support them if we want to have any chance at success. That means spreading the word about these candidates and why they're better for the people of Wisconsin.

The first step is getting people to realize the significance of special interest money in our politics and the candidates who accept it. Then, we need to encourage support for candidates who refuse support from special interests and put pressure on candidates who accept support from special interests. If we're loud enough, they will listen or stand the chance of losing, and the movement will grow exponentially stronger with each candidate who refuses special interest support.

The lack of support from special interests can be the one differentiating factor in the upcoming elections for candidates on both sides of the aisle. With enough volume, we can make it impossible for candidates to accept money from special interests. We attain success by using our voices and support to elect candidates who are people-funded.

With the historic recall elections approaching and political energy on both sides, we can make significant progress towards our goal quickly. Especially, if we elect a governor who refused special interest support. Everyone agrees this is the time we can really bring about change, and this is the only way we can do it.

On No Special Interests.com you'll find more information on why we need to get special interest money out of politics, how a little effort from each of us can make this happen, and why this movement can work here in Wisconsin right now.

Most importantly, you'll find information on where Wisconsin candidates stand on special interest support. So, you can see who is running a people-funded campaign and who is running a campaign on special interest money. Over the next few days I'll be adding all of the candidates for the races in the upcoming recall elections and the November election. I welcome all constructive feedback and greatly appreciate it!

However, the website is nothing without you. All it takes is a tweet, an email, or just talking to friends. We need to do this all ourselves, and we can do this all ourselves. Lets get this movement started.